Benjamin R. Lionheart
|enemies = Red Bird, Cardinal Chicks, Catweed, Dogwood (formerly), Copy Cat, Luther, Bud and Lou, Reggie, Goons, Rogue, Jameson, Evil Robots|likes = His family, being with Abby, Hugo's confidence, having fun, relaxing, celebrations, perfection, equality, organization, geometry, planning parties, dancing|dislikes = Lies, embarrassment, living in fear, Flash getting overwhelmed, bullies, his family in danger|powers = Physical strength Martial art skills|weapons = Laser Gun Claws|fate = Becomes Hugo's gentleman-in-waiting after he defeats Red Bird and saves Animal Town|affiliations = Animal Town City Hall}}Benjamin R. Lionheart '''(or simply known as '''Benjamin '''or '''Ben) is the deuteragonist of the feature film, Animal Planet and a major character in the Black Lion franchise. He's a worker from city hall living with his wife, sons and older brother, Theodore Robinson in the kingdom of Animal Town. When an evil bird threatens the kingdom, Benjamin and the Black Lion team up to defeat the threat and save their respective homes. Background Before the events of ''Animal Planet, ''Benjamin was born to Mr. Lionheart and Mrs. Robinson, workers and close friend to the unnamed mayor of Animal Town. He and his older brother, Mayor Robinson were given an expensive education and during the weekends, their parents gave, Ben, lectures on the responsibilities of being a city manager. His brother, Theodore was given lectures on how to become a successful mayor. Despite not becoming mayor of Animal Town, Ben had a close and loving relationship with his brother. Also, since some of his lectures were very short, Benjamin spend some time with his childhood friends, Owen and Surly. As an adult, Benjamin met a beautiful lioness named Abby and they soon got married. Abby gave birth to two sons named Flash and Barry. For Theodore, he became the mayor of Animal Town and Benjamin was made the official city manager. Both Theodore and Benjamin successfully managed to maintain peace and tranquility in Animal Town. Sometime after Ben and Abby's fifth wedding anniversary, a menacing and dangerous bird who is nicknamed Red Bird infiltrates Animal Town and seeks sanctuary inside the Bungle Jungle Volcano. He invites mammals to play poker and they gamble for their money. However, Red Bird plays dirty and when he's close to lose to the mammal, the Bird cheats. Once that mammal loses the game, Red Bird kills that mammal by pushing into the pit of lava. The ATPD captures Red Bird but as soon as he enters jail, his chicks free him and head back to his volcanic lair. Fearing that his brother is in danger, Benjamin begins to help the ATPD with bringing Red Bird to justice. Development Benjamin was originally going to be a fox who went by the name, Benjamin Todd Fox. The storywriter wanted his character to be similar to the Disney character, Nick Wilde, whom the storywriter immediately liked since the Zootopia teaser trailer was released. A few years later, Benjamin was changed into a lion and his reason for doing that, so he could be related to the mayor of Animal Town, who was a lion. Personality Benjamin is generally charismatic, sophisticated, gentlemanly and suave. While his brother is busy with maintaining order and balance in Animal Town, Ben is focused with organizing the files, attending council meetings and helping the Animal King with whatever job, he assigned him to do. From studying textbooks to attending extra curriculum activities, Ben became diligent and determined with completing his duties. Ben's hard-working ethics doesn't keep him from having fun with his friends and family. Ben manages to let loose and have fun without thinking about duties. Also, Ben's hard-working ethics helps him to encourage other mammals to follow dreams, no matter what kind of species, they are. In world-wide situations, Ben stays calm and advise panicking mammals to stay calm as well. He believes that there's always a solution to a problem. During his adventure to fight Red Bird and his henchmen, Ben was forced to put his polite and soft-spoken attitude for a fierce and determined one, as he had to be trained to become a solider. Also, Ben has a low tolerance for bullies and when the Rock Brothers were cruelly harassing Matthew, Ben often told them to back off but when their antics were getting him into trouble with his hardcore cousin, General Coby, Ben attempted to beat them up only for Surly and Owen to hold him back. Ben's kinder and compassionate side when he began to bond with Matthew and developed a close friendship with him. Despite caring and protecting Hugo, Ben didn't fully understand his temper and how betrayal deeply hurt him in the past. Once getting a better understanding of friendship from his family, Ben fully understood Hugo and when he returned to Animal Town and rescued the mammals. Ben apologized for his verbal actions and the two heroes reconciled and rekindled their friendship. In the cartoon series, Ben retains his hard-working ethics, optimism and loyalty. In other episodes where he serves as a main character, Ben's bravery will be put to the test as he has to abandon his insecurities in order to rescue his friends. Physical appearance Benjamin is a slender and muscular lion with golden fur. Because of his residence in Animal Town, he wears clothes. At work, he wears a blue dress shirt with black pants. After hours, he wears a blue sweat shirt and olive shorts. Appearances Animal Planet Ben is introduced at the beginning of the film. When the Animal King is murdered by Red Bird, Chief Yak and Officer Stripes report the bad news to the Mayor and his family. Mayor Robinson gives his workers jobs for them to do to end the Bird's reign of terror. Ben offered to sign up for the mammal army and Theodore asked his brother, if he was up to the task. Ben answered his brother by telling him that he'll do anything to protect his family and friends. In the film, Ben is seen exiting Joe's Diner with Owen and Surly. As they began to walk back, they spot Matthew and the gang being chased by Red Bird's chicks. Ben and his friends decided to rescue the gang by turning the Joe's Diner sign into a slingshot. When the gang was behind Owen and Surly, Ben released a rope and the chicks were slingshot back to their lair. Ben, Matthew and the gang officially meet and when the latter mentioned that his gang are a group of superheroes, Ben figured that Matthew and the gang could be the ticket to freeing his home city from Red Bird's wrath. Before Benjamin could even tell Matthew about Red Bird, Mr. Mole notified Ben about a meeting at city hall. Ben happily escorts Matthew and the gang to City Hall, where they met Mayor Robinson. Theodore told the gang, Red Bird's backstory and feeling sympathy for the city's loss of its citizens especially with one of them being Ben and Theodore's late parents. Matthew agrees to help the mammals with defeating Red Bird. Later that evening, Ben takes Matthew over to his apartment to meet his family. After meeting the family, Ben bids his family, a farewell and says that he'll see them very soon. Ben, Matthew and the gang depart from Animal Town and meet up with the volunteer mammal soldiers at camp. The soldiers are trained by Ben and Theodore's tough-as-nails cousin, General Coby. At the camp, Matthew was bullied by the mammal soldiers especially three wolves named Rockhead, Rockeye and Rocktail. Despite a few struggles and confrontations with the General, Matthew managed to befriend the General and soldiers by showing off his fighting skills with a robotic dummy of Red Bird. Ben, Owen and Surly bond with Matthew in a lake while bathing. The Rock Brothers join in and apologize to Matthew for their previous actions and start a friendship with him. The next day, the General has notified the army, that they are suitable with fighting Red Bird and his army. Before boarding a train to the Sahara Desert, Coby gave the soldiers and said that none of this wouldn't been possible without Matthew. Ben smiled in admiration as Matthew was cheered by the mammal soldiers. The soldiers boarded a train to the Sahara Desert and as they entered the Sahara Desert, they discovered that buildings have been destroyed and the plant life, there as well. Suddenly, a horde of robots appeared and attacked the army. Several of the robots were destroyed but more came out of Red Bird's lair. Red Bird, himself came out of the lair and led the robots to terminate his enemies. Worse of all, the soldiers only had one more laser cartridge for the laser gun. Matthew looked at the inside of Red Bird's lair and saw tons of gas canisters and a row of runaway edge lights. With an idea, Matthew grabbed the last laser cartridge and headed over to the front of edge lights and aimed the laser guns at Red Bird's lair. Ben helped him position the laser gun towards the gas canisters and fired it. The lair's explosion was shifted by the wind speed to the edge lights and destroyed the robot army including Red Bird. Ben and Matthew managed to dodge the explosion before it hit them. The mammals cheered for Matthew as he defeated "Red Bird." Ben, who was happy as well said that he was so proud of Matthew. Back in Animal Town, Matthew becomes famous for his heroic actions, all over Animal Town. Having grown attached to Matthew, Ben and the others constructed a town house for Matthew and the gang. Upon discovering the house, Matthew is deeply touched by his friends' kindness but he politely tells them that he has to return home to his kingdom but realizing how much work they did for him, Matthew said that he'll reside in the house during his vacations from Columbia. Grateful for Matthew's heroism, Theodore invites Matthew to a party, the next night. Ben happily prepares himself and unbeknownst to him, one of the Rock brothers gossip about Ben only using to save Animal Town and not caring for his family or kingdom. Matthew overhears the gossip and feeling betrayed, he berates Ben for his actions only for the latter to say that he doesn't know what he's talking. But, angry at Matthew's temper, the two heroes temporarily end their friendship. Enraged, Matthew collects the gang and exits Animal Town. Shortly after their departure, Ben was sitting in the break room and began to think about what Matthew said. He felt like saying he's proud of him wasn't as appreciative as a thank you or something else. Ben eventually learns that the Rock Brothers gossiped about him and Matthew overheard it. He berates them for their actions but relents when they apologize for what they did. Dr. Claws enters the room and informs the gang, that the Red Bird, they encountered at the Sahara Desert was a decoy robot. Ben realizes that if that was decoy then the real Red Bird was alive and still in Animal Town. Suddenly, Ben and the gang are shot down by tranquilizer darts and taken to the Bungle Jungle Volcano for immediate execution. Ben realizes that with Matthew back in the Woodland Kingdom and not knowing about Red Bird's survival, no one will come to rescue his friends and family. Luckily, a young mouse named Squeaky went over to the Woodland Kingdom to alert Matthew about Red Bird's survival. Matthew and the gang returned to Animal Town and while the gang members freed the mammals, Matthew confronted Red Bird. Red Bird nearly has Matthew at the end of his rope but the hero overpowers the villain by tying his cape to a beam and splitting it in the process, causing Red Bird to fall into the lava and dies. The mammals cheer for Matthew and is relived that Red Bird is gone for good. Both Ben and Matthew apologize, reconcile and rekindle their friendship. Following the events of the adventure, Matthew is crowned the king of Animal Town and Benjamin becomes his gentlemen-in-waiting. One day later, Ben, Matthew and the gang go over to Rainforest Town for a concert and Ben is last seen dancing along with the music and enjoys his newly-restored friendship with Matthew and the gang. The Black Lion Benjamin returns in the cartoon series as a major character in the cartoon series. He often goes on adventures with Matthew through Animal Town with his family and friends. 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